There are many different electrical generators that have been developed through many years. Many rely upon the burning of fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel, in particular) to create heat that eventually transfers into energy (through various engine types, such as internal combustion and Stirling engines). Such fossil fuel combustion generators (as well as waste oil burning types), however, create problems with nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and thus require caution and possible extra filter technologies to protect the user and the environment from such toxic releases (particularly due to the high temperatures required to incinerate liquid fuels that, in the presence of air, create such undesirable byproducts). As well, the specific types of fuel needed for such a device to function are usually limited and expensive due to necessary fuel refinements for such a purpose. Although the resultant kilowatt generation from such a device may be acceptable for short term purposes (power outages, for instance), such a device is highly undesirable in terms of providing electricity to a grid or for sustained periods of time, unfortunately.
Likewise, other past generators have relied upon internal combustion engines that exhibit bulky and/or extremely heavy configurations and require usage in a specific location. Such internal combustion devices have included Rankine cycle engines to provide steam generation and resultant power creation. Though effective in such configurations, these engines are actually rather elaborate and/or highly inefficient for such a purpose. As well, the utilization of typical combustion furnaces to heat a working fluid to its vapor phase has been followed in the past. Unfortunately, the continued feed of combustible fuel has created myriad problems in such a situation as the fuel needed (including waste oils) has been heated within a chamber that instantaneously combusts the subject fuel to the point of generating a high temperature but too quickly to properly and completely incinerate the waste oils themselves, thus leading to the unwanted creation of NOx and SO2 emissions during continued water vaporization and eventual electricity generation. In other words, the prior designs for such devices have been limited in their fuel types (not to mention the proper balance of combustion and exhaust collection) to make it worthwhile for the user to provide a cost-effective electrical generator. As well, as alluded to above, the continued safety issues with fuel combustion exhaust issues renders such prior devices highly questionable in terms of availability at any desired location for actual long term use, particularly without the added expense of emission control components.
In a separate consideration, there exist particularly effective heat regenerative steam engines in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,080,512, 7,856,122, and 7,992,386 (as examples), all to Schoell, that are configured specifically to be incorporated and introduced within a system wherein the source of water vaporization is waste heat from a manufacturing process. Such systems thus capture heat that typically is unusable and couples such a source with a working fluid that becomes steam (or a like vapor) in order to generate electricity through a modified multi-piston engine. No discussion is made of the potential for incorporating such a specific, effective steam engine with any other type of heat source, and no provision is made for the necessary components required to possibly utilize such a device with any type of heat source other than those specified as exhaust types from large-scale reactors. As such, although such a specific heat regenerative engine is effective in conjunction with certain waste heat sources, the investigation into any viability with any other types of sources, let alone separate engines incorporated directly into such a heat regenerative type apparatus, has not been explored, particularly in terms of a small-scale device, regardless of overall end result in terms of kilowatt generation.
There thus exists a definite need to provide a cost-efficient, effective, environmentally friendly, electrical generator utilizing low square footage genset technology. To date, unfortunately, the shortcomings of the prior devices delineated above leave a gaping omission in the types of generators available to such a degree within the electrical generator industry. This invention overcomes and provides, in a narrow scope, a device that meets all of those goals and with a capability to generate a high amount of kilowatts for introduction within an electrical grid and/or to power lights, equipment, and the like, directly.